Chapter 32

Rane

Sandy was still in the manor. She was in one of the back rooms in his mother’s half – a side he rarely visited, and when he did, it was only when escorted by Orza or Kirs. Of course, his mother would want to keep her close. Somehow, knowing where she was kept just made being separated from her that much harder.

There was no practice today. It was their last day of rest before they started training for the final championship match. That just meant that he was doing nothing, lying on his bed, eyes closed, imagining his mate was laid out beside him.

Imagining what their life could be…

He pictured a home, smaller than the manor but still as comfortable and luxurious as his female deserved, tucked back into the trees. Quiet and isolated, like she preferred. He imagined all the fun they’d have every day. Going to his games, having their small adventures. He imagined her belly round with a youngling they’d conceived in love and freedom for no other reason than they wanted one.

It was a good dream. So realistic in his mind that it hurt his heart even as he smiled, getting completely lost in it.

That was why it was so completely jarring when the door suddenly opened and Kirs was just there, grabbing him by the neck and yanking him up. Rane was thrown unceremoniously to the floor. Before he could gather himself, a horrible yanking on his crest made him cry out as his head was jerked back even as a foot on his back kept him down. He was forced to look up at his mother who was positively incandescent with rage.

“What have you done?!” She shrieked, slapping him across the face. The burn left in the wake of her claws was worsened by the heat of his blood trickling down his cheek.

“Wha-Ugh!”

She did it again, across the same cheek, not even giving him a chance to ask what she was talking about.

“You’re ruining everything! You and that human whore! ”

Slap!

At least it was across the opposite cheek this time. Rane couldn’t do anything but grit his teeth against the pain as he struggled to figure out what was going on.

“I don’t understand,” he grunted, neck aching as he tried to arch his back to relieve some of that terrible pressure on his crest feathers.

“Oh,” his mother laughed, but the sound was deranged. “You don’t understand?! You really expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?!”

“I’ve done nothing. You’ve been watching me! I did-Mph!”

He was cut off by his mother grabbing his face, her claws digging into his cheeks as she smushed his mouth, cutting off his words.

“Don’t you dare talk back to me. I am your mother. And you are going to fix this mess before it gets any worse, or I am going to start giving your mate back to you in pieces !”

Rane didn’t know what he was supposed to have done. He had no idea what was even happening. All he could do was mutter a muffled agreement. Anything to keep Sandy safe.

“I’m calling a press conference,” Elffa snarled, standing straight. “You are going to go, and you are going to tell everyone that the rumors are untrue. Your mate is just fine. You are just fine. You are going to do anything you have to in order to make them believe that the only reason she hasn’t been seen is because she chose it. I don’t care what you have to say or how you have to humiliate yourself to make it happen, but you will or she suffers. Understand?!”

“Yes, mother,” Rane grunted, mind racing quickly. What rumors?

“Good.” Elffa hissed through clenched teeth. “Get him cleaned up and put through a medscanner. He can’t go into a conference with those marks on his face. But just to remind him what’s at stake, leave a few where the cameras won’t see.”

Kirs didn’t respond verbally, but as his mother turned, Rane roared in agony as streaking lines of pain burned down his back. The metallic scent of his blood filled the air as Kirs dragged his toe claws down his flesh, ripping him open mercilessly.

A reminder of what they could do to Sandy if they so chose. His small, fragile human mate. She wouldn’t be able to tolerate the weight of a full grown ratchi on her back, much less being used as a scratching mat.

Rane took it without complaint, except for his cries of pain that he made no attempt to stifle. His agony was what his mother wanted, after all. If he gave it to her, maybe she wouldn’t try to get it from Sandy instead.

***

A mark and a half later, Rane was sitting at a table, a sea of combots and news reporters all looking at him expectantly. The lights were blinding, the room was stifling, his back was in absolute agony, though his face was fully healed.

But he finally understood, a little, what was going on.

Yesterday, a news column had written a story on him about how well he had been doing in games and practice while being completely unproblematic. It had been a very good story, depicting him in a good light in probably the first time since the beginning of his career. It credited him for the strides he’d made towards complete sobriety and responsibility, and even suggested that he might very well soon be able to get out from under his guardianship.

It then proceeded to suggest that his human mate, though her fashion sense was odd, and she came from a blatantly sexualized species, might be the cause.

Nothing unusual. It was actually rather nice.

But later, someone who read the article asked the question: Where was his mate?

She hadn’t been spotted going out in a while. No one saw her at games or practice, though it had been common for her to go to both before – and quiet loudly too. Her outfits alone earned her a lot of attention. And they also made her absence more obvious.

Especially when Rane’s wardrobe suddenly changed back to his mother’s preferred colors.

That led to the follow up question of why Rane hadn’t been going out either. Aside from games and practice, he was never seen. Not even at the post-game celebration parties. He had become nearly as reclusive as her.

Those observations set off a fire storm of questions and concerns. Where was Sandy? Why had no one seen her? Was Rane’s sudden transformation really a result of her good influence, or was it something more sinister?

And as that question became popular, the very same gossip tabloids that had once stalked his every, degenerate movement switched their attention. Suddenly, Sandy was having an affair. Rane was having an affair. Sandy was actually an actress that wasn’t even human. Sandy had come down with an illness that couldn’t be cured. Sandy had left him, and he was going through a severe depression and was walking into death’s embrace.

Each theory was as ridiculous as the last and none of them had any real evidence, but all of them worked together to make that question more burning and relevant as his fame helped spread them all across the entirety of Levtiram.

Where was Sandy?!

By the time morning dawned and he had been blissfully imagining a life that wasn’t his while lying in bed, everyone had come to the conclusion that something awful had happened to Sandy and that it was Elffa who was covering it up.

After all, Rane couldn’t do anything. He wasn’t a legal adult. She had full and total guardianship over him and his mate both. So, if something had happened, then, ultimately, it was her fault.

It was the first time that Rane’s guardianship had ever turned against her. Even when he was passed out in a puddle, too high to understand anything, being dragged by Orza and Kirs back to the hover, that hadn’t been Elffa’s fault. She was just a long-suffering mother, losing her son to his vices despite all her best attempts.

But Sandy wasn’t him. Sandy was a foreigner. Sandy had been seen on camera with him in an arcade like they were younglings. Sure, her style was eclectic, and his had become so as well as a result, but she was otherwise known to be kind and harmless.

There was nothing Elffa could do to prevent the backlash from landing on her. And that’s why Rane was here now, seated before all these reporters, his mother’s hissed warning still hot in his ears. He had to make this go away. She didn’t care about scandals before, so long as he was the only one wrapped up in it. But now it was affecting her. All the weapons she had used against him all his life were pointing her way, and she was just as helpless against them as he had been.

“Rane, where is Sandy?!”

Multiple different voices, all asking variations of the same question, called out to him the moment he sat down. They were doing an excellent impression of sounding concerned, even as he spotted the vicious excitement in their gazes.

This story was better than his usual, drunken hijinks. This was new . This was scandalous. This was views and ratings gold! They didn’t care about Sandy at all, and they probably even hoped it was something terrible so they could report on it and get more attention.

Rane honestly wasn’t sure what to say as he faced the initial onslaught. His immediate instinct, to beg for their help and bring his mate back to him, wouldn’t work. Kirs was here – for the first time in Rane’s life, surreptitiously hanging back and trying to make himself unseen, the way a bodyguard was supposed to.

But Orza was with Sandy. He would be right beside her, watching the press conference live. If Rane messed up, if things got worse, he was under orders to immediately strike her down.

Elffa was in too deep. Defrauding the guardianship was a crime classified as kidnapping. And if it got out that she had manipulated Rane’s entire life to keep control of him, all the things she had done to him – the abuses, the drugs, the lies – the kidnapping charge would be the least of her worries. Adding a murder charge to it wouldn’t be all that worse.

Rane could bring her down now, but the cost would be too high for both of them. They were standing with blades at each other’s necks, waiting to see who moved first.

“Sandy is fine,” Rane said, his voice strong and confident. “She’s at the manor. To my dismay, she recently found out about my past and it has brought her great shame. She does not want to be seen with me anymore, and I must respect her wishes.”